Effects of noxious coldness and non-noxious warmth on the magnitude of cerebral cortex activation during intraoral stimulation with water.
- Author:
Xiuwen YANG
;
Hongchen LIU
;
Ke LI
;
Zhen JIN
;
Gang LIU
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH: Brain; Cerebral Cortex; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Hot Temperature; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Mouth; Pain; Water
- From: West China Journal of Stomatology 2014;32(6):552-555
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVEWe used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the effects of noxious coldness and non-noxious warmth on the magnitude of cerebral cortex activation during intraoral stimulation with water.
METHODSSix male and female subjects were subjected to whole-brain fMRI during the phasic delivery of non-noxious hot (23 °C) and no- xious cold (4 °C) water intraoral stimulation. A block-design blood oxygenation level-dependent fMRI scan covering the entire brain was also carried out.
RESULTSThe activated cortical areas were as follows: left pre-/post-central gyrus, insula/operculum, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), orbital frontal cortex (OFC), midbrain red nucleus, and thalamus. The activated cortical areas under cold condition were as follows: left occipital lobe, premotor cortex/Brodmann area (BA) 6, right motor language area BA44, lingual gyrus, parietal lobule (BA7, 40), and primary somatosensory cortex S I. Comparisons of the regional cerebral blood flow response magnitude were made among stereotactically concordant brain regions that showed significant responses under the two conditions of this study. Compared with non-noxious warmth, more regions were activated in noxious coldness, and the magnitude of activation in areas produced after non-noxious warm stimulation significantly increased. However, ACC only significantly increased the magnitude of activation under noxious coldness stimulation.
CONCLUSIONResults suggested that a similar network of regions was activated common to the perception of pain and no-pain produced by either non-noxious warmth or noxious coldness stimulation. Non-noxious warmth also activated more brain regions and significantly increased the response magnitude of cerebral-cortex activation compared with noxious coldness. Noxious coldness stimulation further significantly increased the magnitude of activation in ACC areas compared with noxious warmth.